Rosberg earns first Driver of the Weekend win of 2014

2014 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Despite having won five races and led the championship for most of the year, Brazil marked the first time in 2014 that Nico Rosberg was voted Driver of the Weekend.

His performance over the weekend was hard to fault: he topped every session in practice and qualifying and resisted strong pressure from team mate Lewis Hamilton to take an important win and keep his championship hopes alive. With over half the vote, Rosberg was the most emphatic Driver of the Weekend winner since Jules Bianchi scored Marussia’s first points in Monaco.

Jenson Button was voted second in the poll following his strong run to fourth in an ever-improving McLaren – doing just what he needs to do to show the team he deserves to keep his seat.

After a somewhat troubled run to the podium in front of his home fans, Felipe Massa, marking his first appearance in the top three of the vote all season.

1. Nico Rosberg

Started: 1st
Finished: 1st

Rosberg had to deliver in Brazil following Hamilton’s five consecutive wins – two of which Rosberg had been on pole for.

He started out well by topping all three practice sessions although qualifying looked like being a closer contest, as both Hamilton and the Williams of Massa found some speed. Rosberg had enough in his pocket however and took his tenth pole position of the season – claiming the rather pointless pole position trophy with it.

From pole he got the start he needed to hold Hamilton at bay, and quickly pulled a gap, although Hamilton reeled him back in as they approached the second round of pit stops. As with the first stops Rosberg pitted first, allowing Hamilton his ‘hammer-time’, although this would ultimately prove his demise.

Engineer Tony Ross’s words “the other car has made a mistake” was music to Rosberg’s ears. Once Hamilton pitted, Rosberg had a comfortable seven-second gap.

For the second time in the race Hamilton reeled his team mate back in, but unlike Japan and the United States, Rosberg managed to keep him at bay and take his first win since Germany back in July, drawing praise even from Hamilton supporters.

Unambiguously Rosberg. Led every session in the whole weekend and didn’t spin anywhere on the circuit. A very Hamilton-esque performance!
Sumedh

I voted Rosberg, in spite of not being his biggest fan. I did so because, had it been Hamilton in his place, he would have had my vote.
@Drmouse

Rosberg, one of the easier votes this season and long overdue!
@Psynrg

2. Jenson Button

Started: 5th
Finished: 4th

As in Russia, the McLaren looked strong in Brazil from the first practice session, and throughout the weekend Button maximised this to great effect.

A strong effort on Saturday saw him bested by only the Mercedes and the Williams cars, and despite not being too confident on race pace, Button stuck with the latter through the opening stint.

He passed Bottas when the Finn suffered a slow pit stop to re-tighten his seatbelts and with a 5-second stop-go penalty looming for Massa, he was in with a shout of third, although he missed the chance by pitting one lap too late.

I believe Button in a car that isn’t great drove, once again, a car to a place it shouldn’t be.
@Broke84

Agree, Button all the way… Challenged for a podium in the McLaren, beat his team mate by 21 seconds and 4 places. Deserving of a seat at any top team, still has it.
@Abbinator

3. Felipe Massa

Started: 3rd
Finished: 3rd

Massa pipped his team mate to third on Saturday – although arguably threw away a chance at a front row start with two lock-ups on his final lap.

After Bottas fell out of contention early on with his seatbelt problem, Massa looked set for an easy run to third. By speeding in the pit lane and then stopping in the wrong pit box on a later visit, he made it a little more difficult than it should have been

Went with Massa, because he not only scored a podium, he was the quickest Williams in qualifying and the race. That involved beating a driver I consider streets ahead of him, so credit where it’s due.
@Neilosjames

2014 Driver of the Weekend results

RaceFirstSecondThird
AustralianKevin Magnussen (48.4%)Valtteri Bottas (24.5%)Daniel Ricciardo (14.1%)
MalaysianLewis Hamilton (54.3%)Nico Hulkenberg (24.0%)Sebastian Vettel (6.5%)
BahrainLewis Hamilton (49.2%)Sergio Perez (25.7%)Daniel Ricciardo (16.6%)
ChinaFernando Alonso (47.7%)Lewis Hamilton (30.7%)Daniel Ricciardo (7.8%)
SpainSebastian Vettel (51.9%)Lewis Hamilton (20.5%)Romain Grosjean (11.0%)
MonacoJules Bianchi (60.2%)Nico Rosberg (11.5%)Daniel Ricciardo (8.8%)
CanadaDaniel Ricciardo (44.9%)Nico Rosberg (22.4%)Sergio Perez (9.5%)
AustriaValtteri Bottas (41.7%)Lewis Hamilton (15.1%)Sergio Perez (14.3%)
BritainValtteri Bottas (52.5%)Fernando Alonso (18.5%)Jenson Button (11.8%)
GermanyValtteri Bottas (37.1%)Lewis Hamilton (33.8%)Daniel Ricciardo (10.4%)
HungaryFernando Alonso (40.2%)Lewis Hamilton (29.3%)Daniel Ricciardo (25.1%)
BelgiumDaniel Ricciardo (44.4%)Kimi Raikkonen (17.0%)Valtteri Bottas (12.2%)
ItalyLewis Hamilton (38.9%)Daniel Ricciardo (18.1%)Sergio Perez (12.0%)
SingaporeLewis Hamilton (38.4%)Jean-Eric Vergne (26.6%)Sebastian Vettel (11.9%)
RussiaLewis Hamilton (34.5%)Jenson Button (20.6%)Valtteri Bottas (15.7%)
United StatesLewis Hamilton (36.4%)Daniel Ricciardo (30.6%)Pastor Maldonado (9.7%)
BrazilNico Rosberg (54.3%)Jenson Button (18.6%)Felipe Massa (12.3%)

2014 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

29 comments on “Rosberg earns first Driver of the Weekend win of 2014”

  1. Extreme fairness if you ask me ;)

  2. I would’ve chosen Hulkenberg over Massa though. People don’t realise how great a race the Hulk had.

    1. @mashiat, the problem is that we only vote for the best driver (not 2nd 3rd).
      My personal 123 for the race was Ros, Hulk, Mas (Massa a bit further down due to pit mistakes).

      I have a theory that due to the strong weekend of Rosberg, he took away a lot of votes of people who otherwise might have voted Hulkenberg/others (let’s say the ‘Hamilton not-so-likers/haters’);
      Similarly, I think that Button (solid drive though) has picked up a lot of the votes from the ‘Rosberg-haters’ who normally vote Hamilton.

      1. I agree with your every statement. But I honestly would rather vote Hulkenberg for DOTW than Massa. I mean, he qualified 1 or 2 positions behind the potential of his car. And made 2 pretty silly errors. His driver reminded me of Hamilton’s. Still finished 2nd, less than a second off Rosberg, yet made unnecessary errors. Thus, he doesn’t deserve the votes. Btw, I agree with your statement on Button, but I will admit that as a Alonso fan, I do also try to convince myself for a reason to vote for him, or Rosberg or Ricciardo. So I won’t bash them as that would just be hypocritical.

  3. Too much praise for Rosberg. 54.3% is only because nobody else really done anything special.
    The most important session of the weekend, race, he wasn’t even fastest. That pole position (-0.03sec) was the difference between this result and people saying ‘Hamilton dominated Rosberg’. To top it off had it not been for poor strategy for Hamilton he wouldn’t even win the race. But like I said nobody stood out so I voted for Rosberg too.

    1. @ivan-vinitskyy, interesting argument; you voted Rosberg but disagree with the 54.29% who did so with you.

    2. I agree with ivan, he explained why he voted Rosberg.

    3. @ivan-vinitskyy
      ‘The most important session of the weekend, race, he wasn’t even fastest.’

      I’m not sure how you define who would be fastest, but surely it would have something to do with completing the distance in the shortest time? Therefore, Rosberg was faster. Name one attempt at overtaking which Hamilton made, forcing Rosberg off-line to block him?

      You don’t need to win by 10 or 15 seconds to show you are ‘faster’, you just need to win.

      1. It’s difficult to argue that the fastest person in the race is the one who completed it in the quickest time, but it was clear Lewis could have done so in a quicker time had it not been for his mistake (I dare say he was as surprised as anyone else, having just done the fastest lap of the race at the time).
        Despite winning, Nico did not look particularly great to me in the race, as with several other races where he only finished second by dint of the Mercedes being so much faster then the rest of the field. He has no excuse for losing a seven second advantage to someone in the same car, which would be bad enough if that happened over the race distance, but it was over a single tyre stint. I can’t see any of the other drivers losing that sort of advantage without a problem of some sort.

        1. It may well have been clear that Hamilton could have done so in a quicker time if he hadn’t made his mistake, but to say this means Rosberg had a lesser achievement by the means of Hamilton’s mistake. You can’t punish one person for the mistakes or errors of another.

          As I’ve said many times before, there remains no obvious factor that Rosberg ‘lost’ the 7 seconds he was gifted. It seems to me as if he gave it up, confident in the fact that he could block Hamilton if he needed to. Hamilton never made any move to overtake Rosberg throughout the race.

          Rosberg seemed to feel he had the race in hand, and could do so with Hamilton only half a second behind. At the end of the day, a win by more than 0.001s is overperforming..

        2. If Hamilton makes a mistake, the race is gifted to Rosberg.
          But when Rosberg makes a mistake, Hamilton deserved to win.

          ???

          1. Because the team made Hamilton go out for an extra lap when he just had his tyres run down after they initally called him in.

          2. @jasmineellaine
            That’s because Lewis hunts him down (always looking faster), pressuring him to a mistake.

            In this case the gap was again closing, and the call to stay out another lap gifted Nico the victory. If that makes one driver of the weekend, well….

      2. well said…

    4. Rosberg couldn’t care less if he wins or doesn’t win the DOTW or if people think he deserves it or not.
      Fact is that after being “trashed” by Hamilton all season long, after being bashed by everyone for allegedly cheating (prove it if you are so sure he did), after being regarded as a mediocre racing driver (10 poles is a good indicator that you can drive a racing car to the limit) and everything else people have thrown at him, he is still in with a chance to win this title and will do everything in his power to win it this weekend.

  4. I noticed that Alonso has not shown up in the top 3 since Hungary.
    Probably a fair reflections of his current driving. I still think he is (very) good, but not as impressive as in the past years and in the early races of this season.

    I can only wonder if his lingering decision making on the team to drive for next year has an impact on his performance.

    1. No, its because people stop voting for drivers who fail to surprise them – Look at Nico’s name in the table , Vettels during the second half of the 2013 season.
      Its not DOTW, its The Driver Who Exceeded expectations the most.

      1. @udm7

        people stop voting for drivers who fail to surprise them

        I don’t think that is borne out by the facts when you consider Hamilton won the poll after taking his seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth victories of the season.

        1. @keithcollantine I think that was more due to a lack of stellar drives across the field rather than Hamilton surprising us.

        2. @keithcollantine
          I was really talking of Alonso here, some of his great drives have been underappreciated (atleast IMO). Like Kimis drive at Spa, he wouldnt have beaten Fernando without the penalty, but he was pretty highly rated, nonetheless.

          Lewis has a lot of fan support, he has been in the top 3 at almost every race he finished pretty much, bar Britain. Something not in common with Nico.

          And Vettel, too, gets a lot of upvotes, whenever he beats Daniel.

          Theres nothing against you, I love your driver reviews and stuff, its a opinion based poll, not perfect, I was just highlighting something I felt about this. Ill obviously continue voting and following these.

          P.S. – I’ve tried to contact you a lot of times over mail and contact forum, but have failed to get any reply in return. I hope to hear from you soon.

  5. Point systems are a hot topic. Makes me wonder what the Driver of the Weekend “championship” looks like compared to the actually drivers championship.

    Are the full field driver of the weekend stats available some where? I’ve been looking, but have not yet found them.

    1. FlyingLobster27
      18th November 2014, 19:39

      I’ve put together a little table using my favourite points system for a top 3, which is 4-2-1. Throw a bonus point in there whenever DOTW gets the absolute majority of votes, and you get:
      1st Hamilton, guaranteed Driver of the Year after Austin with 35 points
      2nd Ricciardo on 18
      3rd Bottas on 17
      4th Alonso on 10
      5th Rosberg on 9 (oh dear…)

  6. Wheres the driver results for the Japanese Grand Prix?

    1. There was no vote held out of respect for Jules

  7. And probably the last? Or… we’ll have to wait and see until Abu Double

  8. Also, most people don’t realize they vote for “Driver of the day” instead of DOTWeekend, so the pole should be converted to DOTD (As quali doesn’t matter even for FIA points system and also it confuses who to vote as one can do decent in practice, both quali and race, and other can mess up quali and win the race).
    Why would many want to vote for HULK? coz he qualified 12? coz he got only 8? Why not kimi then? 10th to 7th (qulified better, finished better, gained places as well). ‘coz it’s Ferrari vs FI?
    Is Ferrari good enough to drive for Kimi? So what does “Driver Of the Weekend” mean? All these questions. Just convert it to “Your driver of the day” poll (irrespective of how one does in practice or qualification – there are many reasons one’s quali might get messed up without driver reason)

    1. @functor Some people will take qualifying into consideration when voting for this (see the British Grand Prix results). The pole is for Driver of the Weekend, and a lot of people will vote based on what the question asks, I know I do. For this race, notice how each of the top three were consistently ahead of their team mates through the sessions, not just at the flag.

    2. @functor People vote how they want to vote. I don’t even see why it’s up for discussion. Place your vote and be done with it.

      It’s like trying to tell people they should prefer blue over red or carrots over parsnips. Totally pointless. You like what you like for your own reasons. Just get over it.

  9. It was about time, well deserved!

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